To many it is hard to define what ‘Physical theatre’ actually is. In this situation where it is questioned, a fine line has been created between what is considered conventional theatre and what is seen as dance theatre. Through my personal experiences in process and performance, physical theatre is when an audience can interpret a storyline or emotion from a simple body movement, and the use of speech is no longer necessary. Physical theatre creates a completely different ambiance both on and off stage, to me the relationships created in ‘physical’ work, are far more believable, as the intimacy levels are higher. Through the use of trust games, boundaries are broken down and characters can interact easier with each other then perhaps in a conventional piece of theatre, due to the fact they are not constructed by scripted dialog and plot
‘The intellectual is grasped through the physical engagement of the body, because as, Lecoq puts it, ‘The body knows things about which the mind is ignorant.’
(Callery,D, (2001) pg4)
This quote reminded me that when working in ‘physical theatre a persons guard is dropped because you have somehow managed to move away from allowing your brain to do the thinking and allowing your body to decide what is right.

‘The term itself – ‘physical theatre’ – denotes a hybrid character and is testimony to its double legacy in both avant-garde theatre and dance.’ (Sanchez-Colberg in Keefe & Murray; 2007, p 21)

What Ana Sanchez-Colberg is suggesting, is that a ‘hybrid character’ is created by being influenced by both dance and theatre, the definition of ‘physical theatre’ lies within the definition of hybrid characters as to me they are one of the same. When dance and theatre are connected they create this illusion of what is now being labelled as ‘physical theatre’
The similarities between dance and theatre are apparent; they are both rehearsed or choreographed until each individual knows exactly where he or she is supposed to be, where a dancer would learn their moves an actor learns there lines, it is then, however, where we get confused, often physical pieces are devised being created from scratch, each character will often go on stage not knowing if they will be doing the same ‘movements’ as the night before, due to the fact they are not sure if their individual emotion will be the same. This to me is why we feel the need to label this interpretation of theatre with its own specific name.

The company I feel that falls into this genre is Knee high theatre, a Cornish based company who feel that their work breaks theatrical boundaries, during a question and answer session they take part in Sally Mackey’s Practical theatre,
When asked ‘When devising, would you try and clarify some sort of narrative line?’
Mike shepherd, artistic director for Knee high answered;
“It is to do with play, and a lot of the ideas don’t come from, ‘Right, were going to sit down now and were going to devise”
(Mackey,S,(1997) pg119)
When reading this i decided that this to me classed them as a physical theatre company as they express the same ideas and starting points as I have mentioned previously and the same in which we have personally used in process and performance.


Bibliography
1. Callery,D, Through the body a practical guide to physical theatre
(2001), published by Routledge, pg 4.
2. Keefe, J & S Murray (2007) Physical Theatres: A Critical Reader London: Routledge
3. Mackey,S, (1997), practical theatre; a post- 16 approach
Published by Nelson Thrones.